@SalmonJones Neither time Iris 'increased the family debt' was Iris' fault - her initial mauling wasn't a case of her being careless, the party she was with were attacked by a monster well above the area's usual difficulty level without any warning. And it wasn't even her that signed off on the crazy expensive potion use - that was Kate.
And the rescue, as I've said before, should have been charged to Shirtless McDumbMuscles in its entirety. It was his expedition, there's no good reason why his hired guards are accruing personal debts for its rescue!
@SalmonJones said in Management of a Novice Alchemist Vol. 5 Discussion!:
her boobs that not gonna lie seem about five times too big for an alleged 13 year old
If I wanted to, I could make the argument for why they're more unlikely than impossible. But I really don't have that kind of faith in this author anymore (their understanding of the topics they tackle has seemed lacking a time too many), so my actual theory about Lorea's build is that he just filed the serial numbers off of Lenny (i.e. the overly 'mature' and business focused 12-year-old daughter of the innkeepers the party usually stays with) from Didn't I Say To Make My Abilities Average In The Next Life?!, and gave her design little more thought than that.
@SalmonJones said in Management of a Novice Alchemist Vol. 5 Discussion!:
Also, jeez did Fuumi not get the memo that Iris was supposed to be "nothing special in terms of looks", that chick is a 10/10 supermodel.
I think its supposed to be showing a dissonance between how Iris perceives herself and how everyone else perceives her. Sarasa's narration does occasionally admit she's beautiful:
Iris-san was beautiful enough that I thought she'd find enough takers if she made her debut in polite society
@SalmonJones said in Management of a Novice Alchemist Vol. 5 Discussion!:
the story of five friends that don't really like each other at all getting summoned into another world
...Honestly, I would have described it as the story of three girls who only put up with Touya because his best friend is hot getting summoned into another world...
The dynamic of a party scapegoat that gets the worst of every exchange and gets dumped on by the rest of the main cast seems to just be how the author thinks friend groups work; Iris here, like Touya there, gets flak for basically everything bad that happens, no matter how stupid it is for them to take the blame.